Joey Barton believes Liverpool would be hypocritical to sack Jon Flanagan after he was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend on Wednesday.

Flanagan avoided jail but must complete 15 rehabilitation activity days and 40 hours of unpaid work after he attacked Rachel Wall in the early hours of December 22. He threw his partner into a wall then kicked her while she was on the ground, after he had been drinking.

In a statement, Liverpool said they 'have expressed to him our disappointment and anger that he has failed to live up to the values' of the club and that an 'internal process will now begin'.

Liverpool defender Jon Flanagan was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend on Wednesday

Joey Barton believes Liverpool would be hypocritical to sack Flanagan

Barton (L), pictured in Dubai in 2016 with Flanagan (3rd R), says he deserves a second chance

But unsavoury incidents involving more prestigious names than Flanagan's have occurred before at Anfield. Those players, Barton said on talkSPORT, were given a second chance.

'Luis Suarez bites another professional player, racially abuses another player, is charged and found guilty and is not sacked. Actually they wore T-shirts for him.

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'Steven Gerrard, club captain, has a fight in Southport, is in court (Gerrard was found not guilty), etc, etc and is not sacked.

'Let's look at Roberto Firmino recently. Three times over the drink-drive limit, driving a car, which is very, very dangerous and he is not sacked (Firmino actually had 46 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of his breath, above the legal limit of 35. He pleaded guilty, was fined £20,000 and banned from driving for a year), he is supported by the club.'

Barton believes that if Flanagan was to be sacked, it would be because Liverpool do not view him as breaking into Jurgen Klopp's first-team.

Flanagan last played for Liverpool in September, in a 2-0 defeat by Leicester

Barton said that if Flanagan was sacked, it'd be a 'financial-based commodity decision'

'To sack Jon Flanagan over a mistake would be down to the fact the boy is not in the first team plans and it is a financial-based commodity decision rather than a football decision because if it is a football decision, it is hypocrisy,' Barton said.

Flanagan, 25, last played for Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday September 19, which they lost 2-0 to Leicester.

The defender signed a three-year contract in March 2016. He earns £35,000-a-week.